Nokia has forecast its third-quarter sales to range between $5.766 billion and $5.990 billion, surpassing the analyst estimate of $5.830 billion. The guidance indicates a potential upside for the telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the upcoming quarter.

The company's projected revenue range places the midpoint above market expectations, signaling confidence in its operational performance. Analysts had anticipated sales of $5.830 billion for the period.

Sales Forecast vs Estimates

The announcement provides investors with a clear outlook for the quarter, highlighting the company's ability to meet or exceed market projections.

Nokia announced the launch of the industry's first commercial AI-RAN platform on 15 July 2026, marking a significant shift in radio network architecture. Built on Nokia’s AI-native anyRAN software and NVIDIA’s Aerial AI-RAN platform, the solution aims to deliver more than 100% spectral efficiency gains by 2028. This advancement allows telecommunication providers to double the capacity of existing spectrum assets without relying on traditional hardware upgrade cycles. The platform combines Nokia’s software with NVIDIA Corporation’s accelerated computing technology to transform the Radio Access Network (RAN) into a planet-scale AI computer.

The AI-RAN platform has already demonstrated more than 20% spectral efficiency gains through AI-driven radio innovations. Nokia is on track to deliver 50% gains by 2027 and over 100% by 2028. These improvements are designed to help providers carry significantly more traffic in dense cells while reducing cost per bit and enhancing customer experience. The architecture supports 4G, 5G, and future 6G workloads on a common platform and can be deployed with existing Nokia or ORAN-compliant radio units.

Strategic partnerships and adoption

Nokia’s AI-RAN platform is built on a common software-defined architecture, offering three hardware platform options to accommodate diverse network strategies. These options include an expansion card for existing AirScale deployments, a standalone AI-RAN node, and cloud-native AI-RAN COTS server solutions delivered through ecosystem partners. Nokia’s anyRAN software will support these three new accelerated computing baseband platforms, while its broader portfolio will remain fully O-RAN compliant, allowing operators to upgrade networks at their preferred pace.

Commercial availability and roadmap

Telecommunication providers can adopt AI-RAN in stages using the approach that best matches their deployment strategy and installed base. The solutions will enter pilot deployments at the end of 2026 and become commercially available in 2027. A new software subscription model allows providers to benefit from AI innovation and performance enhancements without waiting for hardware refresh cycles, enabling continuous improvement in network performance and economics.